China and India score badly in cloud study

A report on the global IT industry from US organisation The Business Software Alliance has lambasted the cloud computing processes used in Brazil, China and India, saying that they threaten the future of the technology.
 
The body, which represents computer giants such as Microsoft, looked into the policies of 24 nations and found that standards were worse than expected a large number of nations.

And it wasn't just developing countries which came in for criticism as Germany was also singled out for its failings.

After looking at policies for free trade, security, data privacy and cyber crime, The Business Software Alliance ranked Brazil as the worst nation, giving it just 35.1 points out of a possible 100.

India, which is home to the second largest IT market in the world, and China also fared badly with scores of just 50.0 and 47.5 respectively.

And this is despite China currently undertaking measures which will see its information and communications sector double to around $389 billion (approx £248 billion) by 2015.

Cloud computing, which includes providing software, power and data services to networks from remote data centres using the web, is a rapidly growing piece of technology in most parts of the world because it offers ease of use combined with incredible cost savings.

According to Robert Holleymann president of The Business Software Alliance, 'world' is the operative word in worldwide web and as such, actions should be taken to try and ensure that technology community works together for an harmonized system to be put in place.

However, laws around privacy and they ways in which the  internet is looked up on in some nations means that a truly unified system is unlikely at this stage and some nations are bigger hurdles to a resolution than others.

Without a much greater level of co-operation between governments "the cloud could be chopped into little pieces," reducing the efficiency that comes from being able to move data and software services freely across borders," Mr Holleyman warned.

For the study, the 24 nations looked at were scored against seven efficiency markers, including intellectual property protection rights, quality of infrastructure and support for industry standards which help to support a smooth flow of data.

Japan came out of the best overall score at 83.3 points. Closely following the lead set by the 'land of the rising sun' were Australia, Germany, the United States, France, Italy, the United Kingdom and South Korea, all of which scored more than 75.



However, Robert Holleyman said that there is a "sharp divide between advanced economies and the developing world, even some of the high-ranking countries are walling themselves in with conflicting laws and regulations.

"What's happening now in the EU is lawmakers and regulators are effectively putting their thumbs on the scale in ways that will make it difficult for non-European firms to compete.

"There are concerns that Germany, for example, wants to put a wall around the country to limit the provision of cloud services to companies that are located in Germany."

He added that for the cloud to truly work to its full potential tough security measures need to be put in place, but China's internet filtering laws and censorship schemes was a step too far and is in effect strangling cloud computing as well as the digital economy.

China may be famous for its Great Wall, but is also growing a reputation in the tech industry for its great firewall, which prevents communications between Chinese people and the rest of the world.

The Far Eastern nation also has a system in place which requires non-Chinese cloud organisations to enter into joint partnerships with Chinese companies if they wish to operate at any level in the country.

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Posted by Jessie Richards